'New Girl' Season 5 News: Sitcom Gets The Green Light For Sixth Season; Casts Caitlin FitzGerald In 'Important' Role
Fox has renewed its Golden Globe-nominated sitcom "New Girl" for a sixth season, officially making it the network's longest-running live-action comedy.
"New Girl" stars Zooey Deschanel as Jess Day, a quirky teacher living in a loft with three young men, Nick (Jake Johnson), Winston (Lamorne Morris), and Schmidt (Max Greenfield). After five seasons on air, it remains the top-rated comedy on Fox, even though it had to bring in other actors to fill in the void left by Deschanel, who went on maternity leave, this season. In Deschanel's absence, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" star Megan Fox was brought in as a character named Reagan, who temporarily took Jess' room in the loft as the latter was away on jury duty.
Deschanel's season 5 leave of absence, something that may have initially worried the show's producers considering that Jess is the titular "new girl," also proved that the show could play around with various formats and schedules. After a long hiatus, "New Girl" returned at a new time slot but still managed to maintain its viewership.
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The season 6 order for "New Girl" consists of 22 episodes, meaning that the show will hit 138 episodes by the time its seventh run ends.
"Every network comedy should aspire to what Liz Meriwether is achieving in 'New Girl,' with its bravura dialogue, inventive and witty performances by the talented cast and emotionally engaging storytelling," David Madden, President of Entertainment at Fox, said in a statement on Tuesday, April 12 (via The Hollywood Reporter). "The series is as creatively strong today as it ever was, we want to congratulate 'New Girl' on reaching its milestone 100th episode and we can't wait for the next subversive and hilarious chapter of these characters' lives."
Meanwhile, "Masters of Sex" actress Caitlin FitzGerald has been cast in an "important role" in the current season of "New Girl," TVLine has learned.
According to the website, the actress will play an old friend of Jess' on-again boyfriend Sam (David Walton) from medical school. As executive producer Brett Baer told TVLine, FitzGerald is set to portray "a very important role that will tee up the rest of the season."
"New Girl" airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
